


Before Morning Comes

by Sachi7



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: AU, Alcohol, Autumn, Cult, Cult Joseph, Flashbacks, Implied Joseph/Dadsona, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Multi, Night city, Past Relationship(s), Past Torture, Post-Game (kinda), Romance, Smoking, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-22 13:17:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12482464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sachi7/pseuds/Sachi7
Summary: Mary is a freelance journalist who is tormented by the phantoms of her past and finds comfort in uncontrollable drinking. Joseph is a charlatan and a former pickpocket from a poor single parent family who plays a role of a youth minister of Maple Bay’s church and at the same time runs a secret cult.They meet each other on a street of the city N, on a chilly autumn night few days before Halloween. Right before the day of Mary’s moving to Maple Bay.





	1. In the Middle of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Cult!AU. Joseph and Mary aren’t married, they don’t have children and haven’t met before the events of this fanfic.

**City N, October 28th**

 

The night was young, however, it was one of these nights when Mary didn’t want to go anywhere. Not even drink anything which was quite surprising assuming how often she spent evenings in bars and pubs drinking wine and trying to forget bad and sore memories. Oh yes, these awful phantoms of the past. They liked to torment and tease her. Especially on nights like that when the moon was shining brightly and something terrible had happened during the day. That time it was again the terrible temptation to run away. From all this life – from the city noise, from all acquaintances and friends, from the job’s pressure. Mary couldn’t say her job as a freelance journalist was hard, no – especially with all these clients she had. However, something always bothered her. Unexplainable anxiety. Maybe she was just tired, maybe it was something way more… psychological. One friend of Mary’s, Jessica, told her to change a scenery and finally relax after all these months of writing articles for various magazines and websites. Of course, the friend also mentioned her drinking problem and how this could also be an issue but Mary didn’t want to listen – it was her own problem, not Jessica’s.

However, she did follow the friend’s advice and decided to change a scenery… but in a more radical way. Not by taking a vacation but by purchasing a house in a quiet city in 3 hours drive from the place Mary was living up until that day. Well… technically she still lived here – until the morning. However, everything was packed, and the flat looked depressing. Just like phantoms of her distant memories filled with prayers, Father’s strict rules and stuffy atmosphere of prestigious girls school where she used to live and study during her high-school years.

“Well, at least this nightmare is long gone”, she thought sitting on the windowsill and looking at pedestrians doing their things. At this time of night, the streets here were surprisingly lively but, alas, not safe. Of course, nobody would kill you, however, there was always a chance that some handy pickpocket would steal your wallet. It happened few times with Mary. Well… soon this wouldn’t matter – in Maple Bay crime rate was much lower, so she heard.

Mary looked again at her small and bare apartment which used to be so cozy and sighed. Terrible thoughts were tormenting her again and she shook her head trying to get rid of them.

“No, I really need a drink”, Mary murmured then went to the bedroom to get changed.

 

Halloween was near, and it was chilly outside.

 

***

 

“Shit!” Joseph was so furious he kicked the trash can, and it fell with a bang.

Few passing pedestrians looked at him disapprovingly but said nothing minding their own business.

The night was going great! Just great! He went to this goddamn city for the meeting with one important person, with whom he couldn’t meet in Maple Bay because the youth minister wanted to keep his past life a secret from locals, and have lost the wallet with the return train ticket and all money. To made things worse, Joseph had lost it after the meeting and couldn’t count on the former colleague’s help anymore. Simply because things went bad… like ruined-relationship-bad. However, Joseph didn’t want to think about the lost opportunity and was trying to figure out what to do next. Sadly, nothing came to the mind – he couldn’t call anybody in Maple Bay nor anybody outside of it. First one was impossible because Maple Bay folks would then start asking questions, like, what was he doing in this city in the middle of the night, and it was unacceptable – his reputation of the youth minister should be impeccable. The second option was impossible because… well… before starting the scheme of being the youth minister, Joseph managed to mess his relationships literally with all his former colleagues. This buddy from today was the last one. Haha, and all because Joseph managed to get the job many people from his criminal circle wanted – no, they didn’t want to be the youth ministers of Maple Bay’s church, however, they did want to work with the wealthy and very respectable person who gave Joseph this mission of being the priest and at the same time of being the head of the secret cult. It was some sort of a weird social experiment details of which were not his concern. Joseph had instructions, and that was all he needed. That was how it work – you got the first part of the money, did the job, didn’t ask many questions and then got the rest and also some valuable connections.

However, today’s meeting wasn’t the part of the plan – Joseph just needed to meet this person in order to… sort one important thing. Everything went not quite as he expected, and now he was standing on a night street without the information he had come for, without money and without stupid return train ticket. Well, it wasn’t too late to remember his pickpocketing past, however…

Joseph sighed, sat on the step of some apartment building and smoked.

“Do I really need to do this?” he thought. It wasn’t like Joseph was a very moral person, no… the other thing bothered him – memories of his alcoholic Mother who taught him how to pickpocket. Not a very pleasant thing to remember actually…

Suddenly the door behind him opened, and the woman with long chestnut hair and in a light coat appeared in the doorway.

At first, she looked surprised at Joseph then smirked.

“Hey, sailor. What are you doing here?”

The man couldn’t figure out whether she was flirting with him or not.

“Oh, just sitting and admiring a view”, he smiled.

The woman giggled but then noticed the knocked trash can and sighed angrily.

“Oh God, who did it again?”

“Youngsters,” Joseph shrugged.

The woman clicked her tongue then sighed again, sat near the man and pulled out a cigarette.

“Got the light?”

“Yeah,” Joseph pulled out the lighter from his pocket and realized that maybe the night wouldn’t be as bad as he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English isn't my native language, so I apologize for all stupid mistakes - I'm trying my best.


	2. Many Ways of Drinking. Part 1

The woman’s name was Mary, and Joseph decided not to tell her much about what had happened to him. The man simply noted that his wallet was stolen, and he couldn’t return home without the return ticket. Of course, she asked him where he was heading, and Joseph decided not to lie and told Mary:

"Maple Bay."

"Oh," she became very surprised then smiled nervously, "what a funny coincident. I’m going to move there tomorrow."

Joseph raised the eyebrow. He didn’t expect the situation to turn like that, even in his most daring thoughts. Usually, Joseph liked the challenge, the feeling of being in danger made the life more interesting... and meaningful, however, this time the man wished he could’ve avoided meeting another resident (or a future resident, didn’t matter) of Maple Bay. Taking risks is fine but losing the job because of simple carelessness was foolish. However, Joseph had no choice but to act normally, and he did by pretending to be surprised. Well, actually the youth minister was surprised but not as friendly surprised as the man pretended to be. The paranoid thought of Mary telling everyone in Maple Bay that she had seen Joseph previously in the city N crossed his mind and then was replaced with another one, more gruesome - where the woman was strapped to a chair in youth minister’s basement and tortured by him, just like... However, the man tried not to think too much about pointless events which may or may not occur and smiled friendly.

"Oh, what a surprise!" he exclaimed. Maybe too loud than needed. "Then allow me to introduce myself properly. I’m Joseph Christiansen. The youth minister of Maple Bay."

"Youth minister, huh?" Mary suddenly became very cold and gloomy. Joseph didn’t know what had caused it but he felt the urge of wanting to figure out the reason behind the unexpected change in the mood.

"Something’s wrong?"

"Nah, just don’t expect me to come."

"To where?..." sometimes the woman’s thoughts and words were all over the place, however, that made her more interesting to Joseph. She was like a Rubik cube to him.

"To the church, dummy!" Mary laughed. "Where else do you expect me to come?" then the woman suddenly stood up. "Let’s go" she was smiling cunningly, like a demon... a succubus, maybe? Even if she had been a succubus (which was a foolish thought), Joseph would have gone with her anyway. The wicked priest wasn’t afraid of her demonic power.

"Not a big fan of churches?" Joseph stood up as well, threw away a cigarette, stepped on it and then followed Mary.

"No, I don’t believe in them."

Joseph raised his eyebrow.

"In God?"

"In churches. I do believe in God. I just don’t need churches to believe in Him."

"Ah, I see... Martin Luther’s style?"

Mary chuckled.

"I’m not going to reform anything. You know, I’m a very peaceful gal," the woman paused. "Well, maybe, before I drink a few glasses," then smiled widely.

Joseph couldn’t help but laugh.

"By the way, you don’t seem to sound too posh for a priest. I wonder why..."

"I work with youngsters, so all these poetic words don’t usually work with them," Joseph paused. "Well, actually, it’s not that the parish is that big in Maple Bay. I run almost everything in the church by myself... Youngsters, adults - doesn’t matter."

Mary whistled.

"Wow! You seem a very busy man," however, she said it with mockery, but Joseph decided to tune it out.

"Where are we going?"

"To some cheap convenience store. Going to buy some booze. Wine or beer."

"I’m broke."

"Don’t worry, I’ll pay. You’ll owe me," Mary smiled cunningly again, however, Joseph found it quite charming. "Or you’re too good of a priest to drink with me?"

The man laughed.

"Naaah, I’m too bad to do it!"

"Good."

"Then what?"

"Then we’ll go to a few bars and that’s when the fun begins."

"What’s the point in buying alcohol in a convenience store then?"

Mary sighed heavily as if Joseph was a stupid child.

"Because it’s a matter of style. You get drunk not after you step into a bar but before that. Then you step into a bar and get even more drunk. That’s the point."

Frankly, Joseph didn’t see the point because the result was the same, however, he decided to follow that woman and try it out himself. Maybe eventually the youth minister would understand her bizarre logic.


	3. Many Ways of Drinking. Part 2

Mary wasn’t fooling around - they actually did go to a convenience store and bought a bottle of fine wine. It didn’t cost cheap, but the woman was very picky and decided to pay more for the quality.

"Never fool yourself with nice and cheap prices. Cheapest is the dearest," she said to Joseph, and it sounded kinda absurd assuming that recently Mary was talking about how it would be better to find some low-cost alcohol. However, the man chose not to argue with the woman and simply chuckled.

"What?" she raised her eyebrow and then drank from the wine bottle.

"Nothing."

They were walking down a street filled with residential buildings, however many of first floors were occupied by various shops. Fruits and vegetables, newspapers and magazines, even a liquid store was there, however, Mary quickly told Joseph that the owner is a prick and his goods are overpriced.

"Have you checked?"

"Yeap," Mary handed him the bottle and smiled. "I’ve checked every liquid store in this and nearby blocks."

"Sounds like a real investigation," Joseph sipped some wine. Yeah, tasted really good. Looked like Mary knew what she was doing.

"Yes, I’ve found all culprits!" the woman laughed.

"Did you... do something to them?"

"Only banned from my list. Minus one customer for them... How’s wine?"

"Delicious."

"Good, sailor! Prepare yourself for more. Other shops are waiting for us!"

"Wait... more?!" exclaimed Joseph in surprise. Did this woman want to poison him?

"Yeap," said Mary so calm as if everything was completely normal. "I’ve planned to do this big wine degustation on Halloween in Maple Bay, but doing it alone is boring and depressing, so your company will do, and the degustation is rescheduled for today."

"I see..." however, Joseph wasn’t very enthusiastic about it anymore. The man couldn’t say he didn’t like a glass of good wine or whiskey, but taking one or two shots or drinking bottles and bottles are two completely different things. Moreover, the memories of alcoholic Mother didn’t help either.

Of course, Mary noticed his gloominess.

"What’s wrong? Not a good drinker?" a mocking smile appeared on her tired face with light bags under the slightly red eyes. Was she crying or didn’t sleep well? Joseph could only wonder.

"No," he answered honestly.

Mary shrugged.

"Then you can do whatever you want. I don’t insist on accompanying me. Good luck with your wallet or whatever," the woman tried to look normal but Joseph noticed she was upset with him. He sighed and thought:

"Oh well, I’m not going to do it every day," then, to Mary’s surprise, made a big and long sip from the bottle and said after: "Ok, I’m in," and smiled daringly.

The woman laughed and clapped, silently admiring his bravery. However, then she became very serious.

"But don’t overdo it, ok? I don’t want to carry you all the way to a hospital."

"I know my limits." Joseph frowned.

"I hope so."

***

Fortunately, turned out they didn’t need to drink a whole wine bottle, only made a few sips and then throw it away. Well... actually that was even worse because Mary was spending too much money on this fun activity, and close to the end of their wine degustation Joseph owed her a pretty big sum. Of course, the woman said it was all fine and he shouldn’t bother about it, however, the thought of being in such a huge debt made the youth minister worried. Much alcohol Joseph consumed, more focused on this matter he became. That was why the man usually didn’t like drinking too much - because in a drunk state his thoughts (especially those which were minor) became more depressing and paranoid. Joseph didn’t even notice that he questioned Mary three times about the debt in a short time, and the woman sighed in annoyance.

"Jeez, stop it! I don’t care!... Fine, I don’t need your money nor anything else in return! You’re free. Dobby is free!" then she giggled drunkenly.

"You don’t?" the thought of being released from his debt was so shocking to the slightly drunk Joseph that at first he didn’t know how to process it. "You really don’t?"

Mary smiled evilly.

"Shut up. If you ask it one more time, I’ll punch you."

The man suddenly found it quite funny and laughed. Well, maybe, Joseph wasn’t as slightly drunk as he thought.

***

Residential streets were changing one after another, however, all of them had a few or more Halloween decorations such as cardboard pumpkins and ghosts or bats stickers on window glasses. The celebration was indeed near, but Joseph didn’t care much about the holiday - all he was thinking about at that moment were the fun night adventure and Mary. Everything was like in a freaking movie where a man and a woman suddenly meet on streets, hang out for a night or a day, then say goodbye and never see each other again. However, it wasn’t their case. They would meet again but in Maple Bay where he once more would be playing a role of a youth minister, and the circumstances would change. Joseph wanted to forget about it until the morning - he was having too much fun. At that moment of time the man wasn’t a charlatan, a thief, a cult leader or a murderer - he was nothing but Joseph. Just goddamn Joseph.

Mary mercilessly threw away the unfinished wine bottle into a nearby dumpster then returned to the youth minister and took his hand.

"Let’s go! Bars await us!" she exclaimed giggly and quicken the pace. Her hand was cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've expanded some future scenes and storylines of the fanfic and that's why I've made some changes in the pairings and tag sections. Sorry for any inconvenience.


End file.
